The Menu: Culinary centre stage

The Menu is packing his theatre binoculars with the mother-of-pearl inlay and his most elasticated cummerbund for what promises to be a splendid evening of theatrical and culinary high-jinks at Dublin’s Smock Alley Theatre throughout the month of August. 

Beginning with dinner in the exquisitely appointed Banquet Hall before a performance of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest in a theatre that first opened for performances in 1662, eventually closing in 1787 to become a whiskey store and then a church until a recent renovation and return to its original use in 2012.

And while The Menu is greatly looking forward to a splendid play performed in a gorgeous space positively brimming with history, theatrical and otherwise, he is equally enthused at the prospect of devouring substantial portions of Chef Paul Clune’s intriguing menu including: red snapper, pollock & mussel stew with tomatoes, orange and fennel; a supreme of free range chicken with sautéed summer vegetables; or a mixed mushroom tart with rocket & truffle oil, all to be served on long banqueting tables in the glorious Banquet Hall. (August 3-22, 7.30pm; Saturday and Sunday Matinees, 2.30pm. www.smockalley.com )